Sweet words
by Arthemis D'aluna
Summary: Some people are curious… Some words were said… My little view on how the characters evolved. Please leave a comment.


I do not own Dragon age: Origins and its characters, I just played with them.

**Sweet words**

Camp was set. Alistair finished cutting the wood for the fire and walked to Zevran's tent. He quickly recounted the five silvers he was about to give the elf, when he reached the fire. The assassin was looking at him expectantly with a smile on his face.

"Wait for me!" Leliana said catching up with them. "Vik just told me about Morrigan!" She then turned her attention to the assassin. "You are a master indeed, Zevran. You win the bet fair and square."

"Much obliged, madame." answered the elf smugly.

"And here is your five silvers." added the warrior. He was about to say more but the third rogue of their little company stepped in.

"And ten more on my part, though I didn't enter the bet officially, I did enjoy how you cleverly trapped her!" Vik said pleasantly.

She then returned to the fire. It was her turn to cook, and it raised much expectation every time, especially when they returned to camp and could have a meal with fresh ingredients.

"Alistair?" She asked. He was standing in front of her before she even looked up. "This is last week's bread" she said pointing at a very dried piece she had putted aside. "If you could put it in crumbs, I would appreciate it!" Alistair knew better than to ask her what she was doing. Too often did he heard the "you'll see" answer.

She took some slices of meat she just bough from Bohan and dipped them in a mixture of eggs and milk. Then she dipped them in the crumbs and some spices, and then placed them all on a large pan over the fire. She turned all the pieces of meat once they stopped sizzling.

"Zevran, get me that sauce I made yesterday. The one in the small cauldron over there" The elf couldn't resist and opened the said cauldron. The smell was of seasonings he knew well.

"That is Antivan sauce, no?"

"If you must know, yes it is indeed." Answered the Warden "I finally found all the spices I needed for this meal. It was my brother's favorite…" She was cutting some cheese and placing it on the meat with the sauce but the mention of her brother made her stop. She shook her head and continued with her task, her expression more distant than before.

She served everyone, making sure Alistair had extra cheese on his share, Zevran had extra sauce, Sten had more meat, Leliana had a share that was not too spicy and her faithful mabari, Drust, had some uncooked and unseasoned scraps. She then sighed and took Morrigan's and her share away. The witch's habit to stay away from them made it complicated to talk to her.

"Here, taste this." She said putting the bowl in front of Morrigan. "I didn't poison it!" She added when she saw the murderous glare the witch threw at her.

"You… wagered against me?" Morrigan asked with an even colder tone than usual.

"No… I did not." The Warden answered, unimpressed by the witch's mood. After she chewed one mouth full she went on. "I did pay Zevran for the effort he spent on winning his bet." Morrigan's tensed posture was not affecting a leader of men like her.

"When we were in Lotherin, you told Leliana about your mother and the Chasind." The rogue said. "It is how you where raised, is it not? How you must act? Survival is the main objective! To do so you must acquire power or you will die, to put it bluntly." She had a strange kind of smile; hard and calculating, an expression that would suit the witch better than her. "Thedas is not so different." She added with an off hand tone.

Without thinking about it Morrigan began to eat. She was interested by this. Instead of being judged she was showed the similarities. The Warden was pointing her how she could adapt, that was a useful conversation. She listens.

"I was fourteen when my brother married" Vik said after a pause she used to take another bite. "The celebration was the best I had ever seen. As I stood away; watching and smiling at all that merrymaking, a lord came to speak with me. Though the conversation seamed light enough, I soon realized that he was adapting himself with everything I said. Each time he would state or do something I disagreed with, he would shower me with compliments." The Warden suddenly looked up. "You certainly don't need ideas on how to court a woman, Zevran. Not after what you have proved today. So why don't you show yourself?"

"I am simply most curious about this discussion, my dear! Don't let me interrupt and tell me what he told you that swept your heart away!" Said the elf sitting himself by the fire and ignoring the witch's disapproving glares.

"Oh! Let me remember then…" Vik said still laughing. "He told me that I was like the moon. My mind was so brilliant that it shined in my eyes. That even my skin had a glow to mesmerize his mere mortal senses. He then took a strand of my hair and told me that the wind could not find a most enchanting partner to dance with." She looked amused but unimpressed by all the praise. "That should be enough to satisfy your curiosity; for he told me many things of the sort, but I can't remember them all."

"You said he was a lord," Morrigan started, clearly trying to grasp a point that was inconceivable for her "was he poor for you to reject him, I wonder?"

"No, I simply asked him his name" the Warden said with a mischievous smile "see, prior to the wedding, I had to remember all the names of the bride's relatives. I did not know what was bothering me about him; if it was his too sweet ways or the strange light in his eyes, but I could not bring myself to trust him. When he gave me his name, seeming flattered that I took an interest, I learned what I needed. He was married!"

"So, the fellow courted a young maiden. There is no harm in that, or so I'm told." The elf resumed.

"Maybe in that whore house you grew up in! But…" She stopped, closed her eyes and turned all her attention to the witch "It is exactly like in the wild, Morrigan. You must learn to defeat your opponents. Zev merely taught you a lesson; with human beings, not all attacks are physical. The next person who tries flattery on you, will have trouble unsettling you, or make you lose focus, don't you think?"

Morrigan stared at her fire, her concentration on something that wasn't there. Both rogues got up and left her. They walked several pace slowly and came to a stop. Zevran stayed beside the Warden, but she too was deep in thoughts. After several minutes, since she didn't seam to pay attention to him, he decided to re-voice his own question.

"You still didn't answer me. What did he say to charm a delicate lady like yourself?" he asked with an innocent face. There was a mischievous glow in his eyes that didn't match his calm pose.

"To tell the truth, I too was unsettled by his words, but I was taught at a very young age to be suspicious of people approaching me."

She looked like she was remembering something pleasant with her distant smile. "I took advantage that he looked at another woman for a minute to escape and joined my brother." her smile was more accentuated "It was his wedding; he already had wine… more than what he was used to." Now her voice was near laughing, but after a moment of silence she went on. "I knew if I went to my parents and asked about the lord; it would have spoiled the festivities, so I turned to my sibling. I was unsure. I wanted to know what I should do. How I should react." They were at a safe distance from the camp fire and the inquisitives ears around it but they still spoke in subdued voices. "Since my brother had enough alcohol, he was not too affected by my story. He told me that I should challenge the man to a duel." This made her smile briefly but she continued with the more serious explanations. "I knew how to hold a sword, but I was not the best to wield it; always counting on the men to defend me. This made me realize that I could not always ask to be protected; in this particular situation, I had to fight on my own. That is why I decided to study and become a good sword woman."

"Do you challenge every man that laid an envious eye on you as of yet?" asked the assassin with an amused note in his voice. He had his back to the fire and was not lighted enough for anyone to study his face, so the Warden turned her attention to the dancing flames.

"You are right!" she said looking distant again "at first I did, a few little fights without much consequence. Most of the young boys backed away when I told them what they had to do if they wished to court me. Now, I still think that if a man can not at least defend himself, and instead cowers behind some guards, I can not respect him enough to have feelings for him… but my choice is not based choice on strength alone."

"What skills with both words and sword should be acquired to please a beautiful and courageous leader like you then?" asked the assassin with his light tone, barely hiding his curiosity.

"The sword has to be able to strike, courage must drive it and discipline must improve it. As for words…" Her gaze wandered from the fire to Sten and then she looked at Alistair pacing just out of hearing distance from them. "I was compared to a flower once" she said as if she was speaking her thoughts aloud. "They where not the most beautiful words and were tossed at me with no skills, but they did charm me, as they sprung from an honest and candid heart." She then looked at the elf directly. "It was a change for me from all those master charmers. You always have to deter their motives to give the right answer to these kinds of men."

"You wound me! I would not offer myself to a lady if I had no intentions on giving her satisfaction." Zevran said with his usual teasing tone. "Now, do tell me what a man should be interested in when looking at a gorgeous temptress like yourself?"

She stopped to think for a minute, thus calming the humor of the moment. "I don't want to be loved for my beauty; it will vanish. Nor for a social standing that can be taken away. I want to be love beyond any of these futile reasons. I want to be loved because…" She couldn't find the right words to finish her sentence. So she left the assassin and went back to her tent deep in thoughts once more.

The End


End file.
